OpenAI Overhauls ChatGPT Ads, App and Health Features

A Flurry of ChatGPT Changes Lands at Once

OpenAI is in the middle of a broad rollout touching nearly every corner of ChatGPT, from advertising tools for businesses to consumer-facing app updates. Over the past week, the company pushed a wave of changes to ChatGPT Ads Manager, restructured how the ChatGPT app integrates with its Codex coding tool, relaunched a health-tracking feature tied to Apple Health, and introduced a new "Skills" system that expands what the chatbot can do out of the box 1235. Taken together, the updates show OpenAI pushing simultaneously on monetization, productivity, and personal-data integration — a sign of how quickly the assistant is evolving beyond a simple chat interface.

Advertising Gets More Sophisticated

On the business side, OpenAI has significantly expanded ChatGPT Ads Manager, according to reporting that catalogs a dense list of changes 1. These include new controls over daily budget management and budget pacing, conversion-optimized campaign types, geo-exclusion targeting, updated ad-matching logic, expanded API capabilities, and a new set of product ad formats 1. The scope of the update suggests OpenAI is building out infrastructure comparable to established ad platforms, giving advertisers finer control over spend and targeting as it works to turn ChatGPT into a viable advertising channel alongside its subscription business.

App Changes Frustrate Some Users

Not all of the changes have been welcomed. A merger between the ChatGPT app and OpenAI's Codex coding tool has reportedly broken features that users relied on, prompting backlash described as potentially "disastrous" for the app's core functionality 2. While specifics of what broke are limited, the reaction highlights a recurring tension in OpenAI's rapid iteration cycle: consolidating tools and interfaces can streamline the product, but it risks alienating users who built workflows around the previous structure.

Health Data and New Skills Expand the Assistant's Reach

On iPhone, OpenAI has relaunched its Apple Health-connected feature inside ChatGPT, giving the assistant expanded access to users' health data to inform its responses 3. This positions ChatGPT more directly as a personal wellness tool, competing with health-focused features baked into smartphone operating systems and dedicated fitness apps.

Separately, OpenAI rolled out "ChatGPT Skills," a new feature framework that lets users enable specific capabilities and try curated prompts designed to showcase them 5. Guidance on enabling Skills and sample prompts suggests OpenAI is trying to make the chatbot's expanding capabilities more discoverable for everyday users, many of whom may only use a fraction of what the app can do.

Why It Matters

Basic guides on installing and running ChatGPT on iPhone remain in demand, underscoring that mainstream adoption is still catching up to the pace of feature releases 4. As AI assistants increasingly integrate with health data, coding tools, advertising systems, and smartphone-level features, the ChatGPT app is becoming a proving ground for how far a conversational assistant can extend into daily digital life — even as some updates create friction for the very users OpenAI is trying to serve.